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Chinese Music
Pentatonic scale friend Zhong Ziqi by Playing “Sanfen Sunyi” method It is the collective name of This was one of the ancient five musical scales: do, re, mi, the Qin have their roots in this Chinese Lü generation sol and la. All the traditional methods. Guan Zhong in the Chinese scale forms included period, which fully reflects the Spring and Autumn Period the said five scales. Various improved musical instrument invented the Sanfen Sunyi modes might be formed Method that was used to based on each tone that is playing and composing skills figure out the length of Lü considered the principal tone for the pentatonic scale. The in a sequence of music tones and the enhanced music same or similar Lü generation consisting of the pentatonic methods also appeared in scale. According to the scale appreciation skills as well. As for ancient Greek and Arabic names of the principal tones, countries. Based on length modes could fall into different playing the ancient qin, ancient of the vibrating bodies, categories, such as do-mode, qin players also attributed the Sanfen Sunyi method re-mode, mi-mode, sol-mode included two aspects: “sanfen and la-mode. superb qin performance to true sunyi” and “sanfen yiyi.” Cutting one-third from a and deep feelings. According certain chord meant “sanfen sunyi,” which could result in to historical records, the singing of famous musician the upper fifth of the chord Qin Qing in the Zhou Dynasty could “shock the trees tone; And increasing the chord by one-third meant and stop clouds from moving,” and the singing of the “sanfen yiyi,” which generated the lower quarter of the folk singer Han E could “linger in the mind for a long chord tone. Alteration and consecutive use of the said time.” two methods would generate The theory of “12 lüs” had come into being in the all music lüs based on the first lü. The earliest record of Zhou Dynasty, and the names of the “Pentatonic the “Sanfen Sunyi” method ever known was in Guanzi· scale,” known as gong, shang, jue, zhi and yu, Di Yuan, in which there were only five tones; While the were established as well. One of the outstanding records in Lü’s Spring and achievements in the theory of “lü” was the “Sanfen Autumn Annals· Yinlü showed that the method had figured Sunyi” method recorded in the Guanzi · Di Yuan. out all the length codes of the 12 lüs. The method in which the Lü of the upper fifth was calculated based on The Spring and Autumn Period the sequence of the “Sanfen Sunyi” method was called “xiasheng” in ancient times, & the Warring States Period and the method in which the lower quarter was calculated was called “shangsheng.” The Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC) saw Twelve lüs was finally generated with five “xiasheng” the rise of regional music due to the collapse of such lüs and six “shangsheng” lüs. religious and legal system as “passing the throne to the elder son of the legal wife rather than the son of concubines,” and the “fiefdom system,” and destruction of rites. Numerous wars in the Warring States Period also led to frequent collaborations
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The Evolution of Chinese Music
Chime bells excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi. The bells standing in the north are 3.35 meters long and 2.73 meters tall; while the bells in the west are 7.48 meters long and 2.65 meters tall. among various sorts in regional music, and the ancient musical instruments unearthed in 1978 from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the State of Zeng located in Suixian County (present-day Suizhou), Hubei were important evidence of that. Chinese History, mainly compiled by Guo Moruo, wrote that in the states of Sui and Zeng, there were marquises that had the same family names with marquises in the Zhou Dynasty. The
A set of qing excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi measures1.09 meters long and 2.15 meters tall.
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Chinese Music
Figurines of performers and dancers excavated from a tomb of the Warring States Period in Zhangqiu, Shandong Province, show a grand performance scene.
inscriptions on the unearthed bronze ge show that marquises of the State of Zeng were formerly from a branch of the King of the Zhou Dynasty. The 65-piece chime bell discovered in the tomb of Marquis Yi is the most complete and biggest bronze chime bell known so far. Chimes appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty, with three to five bells at first, nine to 13 in the Zhou Dynasty and 61 in the Warring States Period. Based on sizes, sounds and ranges, bells were arranged into chimes to play pleasant and melodious music. The period from the Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period saw richer categories of musical instruments, more refined instrument-making skills as well as enhanced requirements on sound quality. The making of musical instruments used in playing “yayue,” such as chime bells and chime qings, would involve much labor and money. The chime bells unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi boasts a wide range of sound of five octaves, only one octave less than the sound range of modern pianos. The bells would produce beautiful and pure sounds when struck, with chords the same as the modern C Major.
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The Evolution of Chinese Music
Historical records show, the “eight sound” classification method was adopted for musical instruments at this time, which was to classify musical instruments into eight categories based on the materials used to make them: gold (bronze bell and bo), stone (stone qing), earth (ceramic xun and fou), leather (tao drums), silk (qin and se with chords made of silk), wood (wooden striking musical instruments like zhu and yu), pao (sheng and yu made of plants like gourds) and bamboo (xiao and chi). The Qin and Han Dynasties
The Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC), as a centralized empire, was the first to establish an official organization—a music institute—for music management for both political and cultural unification. The official organization, inheriting the collection system in the Zhou Dynasty, was mainly responsible for collecting, organizing and adapting folk music, and arranging a group of musicians to perform in such occasions as feasts, sacrifices and congratulation ceremonies. The music institute was further developed in the Han Dynasty (206BC–220AD). The Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty paid particular attention to folk music and, as a result, expanded the organization and functions of the music institute,
A figure of a xun performer in the and ordered it to collect folk songs of Western Han Dynasty.
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Chinese Music
Painting of Performing, Singing and Dancing Gods unearthed from a painted coffin from tombs of the Western Han Dynasty at Mawangdui.
ethnic groups in various areas, including Beidi and in remote areas like the western regions. Therefore, music like Shen Lai Yan Yi (Entertaining the gods when they came) and Cheng Xuan Si Long (Riding on dragons) from Anshi Fangzhong Yue (The Boudoir Poetry of the Peaceful Age), and Jiaosi Yue (Rural Sacrificial Music) accompanied by a magnificently-dressed witch who was singing while dancing gracefully in the moonlight, and could be heard
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